Kaelynn's Mooncake

We're not Celebrating the Mooncake Festival this year for obvious reasons. But there is no stopping me from mooning a cake, though. You just have to do this very quickly, and in private so that no one knows what you did with the cake.

Anyway, we're not celebrating it this time due to my Mom's passing.

Kaelynn's school encourage the celebration though. Apart from bringing their own lanterns, they made their own mooncakes.

Its so beautiful and for a moment, I thought it was edible...

Big sister examining the handicraft...

"How the heck did she do that?"

Ah, if you stop bullying me, I'll tell you the secret...

The Lawyer and his cigars

Subject: FW: Talk About Getting BURNED !!
A Charlotte, NC lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a law suit against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued.... and won! In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be "unacceptable fire," and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."
NOW FOR THE BEST PART:

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and he was sentenced to 24 months in jail and ordered to pay a $24,000 fine. This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.


Its funny and too good to be true, right? You're right on the dot,

This is just another one of funny joke stories which is believed to be in circulation since 1960. From the UrbanLegends website, what you have read just now, was the more 'updated' version of the joke.

Nevertheless, this is just a joke and should be kept as it is. Because, there is no such thing as the Insurance losing....

Ben10's New Range

While Kristine was being violins, I decided to toy around...


At the local Toys R Us, there were some new Ben10 toy shipment and they're already on the shelves. So, let's have a look see. I suppose this is the start for new 'American' toys to come in since for the next three months, its Halloween, Chrsitmas, etc.

But why, oh why, must they put the words, 'Proto' in the front? Because when I read the name, my mind instantly goes into the Ghostbusters World instead.

New Omnitrix using touch control. Initially, it looks bulkier and nothing works when I tested it, maybe there is some battery connector tab which was not removed.However, I still prefer the original anytime because nothing beats turning the dial around and the slam it in for the transformation. Cool isn't it?

Nice bike, and it reminds me of one of the Masked Rider series. This has potential for other things but alas, the prices stopped me. Its called the Tenn-Speed cycle (10-speed a bicycle) which does not make sense because a 'normal' real bike for kids, as far as I know, does not have that many gears. Anyway, the toy's upper cowl opens up to function as some sort of wings. But one thing good about this is that the Ben10 figure has a helmet. Hooray for road safety awareness.

This is also a very nice transforming spaceship vehicle thingy.

If you fold it right, it would look like one of those Slave II spaceships from Star Wars.

OK, this is a weird one, the Proto-Scope. Its actually nice name for a periscope. I would prefer they coming up with better names like Proto-Pock or PackoScope or, how about Packet-vision...

When you add it to the gun and glasses, no one would even want to sit next to you

A closer look at the glasses, which is the Proto-Specs.
Not bad for the name. If its from the Ghostbusters, that is.

OK, I'll admit it. I like this one. The shape some how gels with a lot of concept.

That is, until you realise its some kind of a exploding thing. I do not want to hold this in my hand while 'imagining' new designs only to have it explode halfway, traumatising my thoughts.

Ben10 Tech Blaster. (for blasting Techs?)
Its a nice design, for a briefcase thingy which turns out to be a weapon. Tony Stark must be jealous because his only turns out to be a suit. But seriously, a gun?

The rustbucket with no rust. At first it looks good

But the more you look at it, it was so good, you do not know what to do with it except to stuff action figures into it and most to most, try to make it fly (anywhere but near a window)

Now, this is a very nice vehicle. (No 'Proto' names too). Maybe I can call it, 'Proto-quad' or 'Proto-bug' or the 'Proto-Kev' or sometihng. But Aerotrack?

But once it 'unfolds' itself, it looked more like a technological flying tick.

I have not seen the new TV Series or any episodes apart from the ones years ago so, I am looking at them from a outsider point of view. Now, with the new toy range which could be a hit (if not for the pricing since everyone is comparing it to Ben10 bootlegs which is everywhere), it seems as if they're trying to market them as toys...

Kristine's Sports Day 2012

My Wife told me, taking Kristine to the Sports Stadium is very easy. All I needed to know is to just get there early. Well, as usual, all plans fail whenever I am around. Because by the time I reached the area, yes, area. I cannot say the word place yet. You see the whole area was full of cars and I'll bet the locals there wondered what was happening. For those who are coming from the main road (like me), you need to queue up for the queue to make the U-turn to the Stadium's entrance. The funny thing was, although her school has her own field, they decided to borrow a mini Stadium belonging to another school. BECAUSE this stadium was many times bigger than the field. OK, that was the only logic I could think of but I think it also has to do with the fact that it has more parking space for the parents and other authorised vehicles.

The even starts from 0800 until 1230 and surprisingly, this is the first time, in for a Primary school function (where I attended), everything went like clockwork with 10-12 minutes to spare! Wow.

And so, like any dutiful Parent, I resigned myself to a covered seat. Luckily with the overcast sky, it was not too humid nor hot.

All the students were gathering on the far side of the field. I am not sure what Group/Sports House Kristine was, but all I know was that she wore a blue band.

The Parade Starts off with the Scouts.

Then the individual Sports Houses, each being led by a Flag bearer and their mascot

Yes, you got that right, people. Wolverine!

After the Parade, it was time for exercises. And man, although the Wolverine costume was nice, it was very hot for her.

First casualty for the Red Cross that was on standby

Some funny moments where her younger sister wanted to join in too. Many times, there were repeated announcement to inform the parents to stay off the track until the announcer nearly lost her cool.
She should have started with, "For those parents who are still on the track, we will find your kid and kick her out and make her repeat the year..."

This was and the best part of the Sports. Each team had to pick up an clothes item and help the other team member wear them. And although each team has the same number of clothing, the costume is different.

Man, I love this 80-300 lens.

OK, now its Kristine's turn

She is fast but eventually, in the team they went to beyond third. She kept saying they were second but the teacher told them its over. Sheesh.

Full of confidence at first...

Walking around the field, talking to her classmate. This was what she had been doing since morning. She was not even in the parade but just, well, hung around the tents.

Kristine still looking excited and all

Until we reached home...

Revell's 1/144 Trinity House Lightship no. 90

I finally got it. Are you surprised that I got a ship?

Personally, I was surprised that I got a ship because, never did it cross my mind that I would be surprised that I got a ship. Sometimes, I surprised myself that I was surprised because I got a ship.

Why I got it was also another mystery which I could not even remember. All I could remember what that it was gone when I wanted it. This ship, which has been sitting on the shelves of Hobby HQ for years, unsold and even looked at, was gone when I really, really want it.

 At first, to me, its just a red ship. All I was interested in, was how to light up the light beacon. That's it. But when I Googled for more information, I realised that this particular noble ship has a sad history.

On November 27th, 1954, the Lightship South Goodwin broke from its anchors in the winds of 80Kmh and broke on the Goodwin Sands. All eight crews perished save one, Ronald Murton, who hung on for eight hours until rescue arrived.

So, after that fact, I really wanted it. Alas, when I arrived at Hobby HQ, Mr. Low said someone had already bought it....

Luckily for me, he had a spare kit in the storeroom!!!
This kit was first issued by IMA (International Model Aircraft Ltd) under the FROG label in 1960 with a 1/110 scale. Then the company went into receiver ship 1971 and was acquired by Dunbee-Combex-Marx. Some of the molds ended up in Russia and so, they were produced under the Novo Brand name. For this particular model it was acquired by Revell.

The parts are all here since the box has not been opened before. Mr. Low and I checked it and I think he was very interested too. This is a ship that has no propellers. It was towed and the diesel engine inside was used as a generator for electricity.

It is very rare to see this note from Revell. As stated, the model kit is from FROG.
Its a small gesture but to a customer like me, I am very happy to get such notes as this not only tells me why the model kit is unique and also, address some of its possible shortcomings.

Note the bigger plastic ring on the left. This is, I think, the 60's method of detailing the 1/144's scale railing when Photo etch technology was not available. Then again, in the 60's this is the only way to mass produce the railings and also, this is not a problem for kids at that time.

This is the size of the Lightship's beacon which is the main reason I wanted the ship. Right now, I have no idea on how to replicate the light effect. If I used LEDs, the effect is there but the degree of its rotation is very limited and also, looks faked. I am thus going to look into motors.

For a 1/144 (or 1/110?) this is a very big ship. Its longer than a foot...

The size of the beacon. Although it looks big, I 'm afraid I might have ditch it and use something better but this all depends on how I solve the problem of it rotating.

I was surprised at these black railings because they are not solid plastics but rather, soft ones...

The answer became quite clear when I read this part of the instructions. You are meant to bend them like so since (I repeat) photo-etch technology has not been invented yet.

Ah, the support structure to the lighting beacon. For some reason, it looked very appealing

Again, this is how it would look once assembled. Nice

New shop

Not some new Restaurant with Wifi nor a Cafe with Wifi, but an Internet Cafe with no Wifi. Expect either a lot of customers or well, front page news.

Once you get bored surfing, go up and do some gluing

New Boxes

As I was passing one of the electronics shops today, I went in for an 'update' look-see. And I was not diappointed because they have some new project boxes for sale. These are handheld types which from the looks of it, feels more comfortable compared to the normal square ones.

However, knowing these are made from China is not a problem. The problem is where in China they got it from and how was the quality. Still, when I have some extra cash, I'll get one and test it out.

The prices for these are between RM5.00 to RM15.00 give or take.

Yep, I have my sights set on these and somehow, I expect it to slide out too...